The definitive Blankis-Salida thread 2 2

[october]

On 7/2/2024 at 11:29 AM, PedigreeMan said:

You kept some of the great ones, Andy -- always loved that Flying Aces #1.

And congrats on the prices for the GIC and NC -- if Salidas were going for anywhere near what those two sold for back when I was hoarding collecting them, I would have had A LOT less of them!

Did you by any chance send the silly provenance papers I included with them to Heritage?  I have zero expectation that they would have sent them along to the winners, but an old man can dream ... 

I probably included them to establish the ped, but CGC tosses everything as far as I know, even original pedigree certs. I never get anything back.

Almost all of the Salidas I got were sold raw though, so the rest would still have the paperwork. 

Edited July 2 by october

[october]

Whoops. One more I kept that I forgot about. 

[PedigreeMan]

On 7/2/2024 at 1:18 PM, october said:

Whoops. One more I kept that I forgot about. 

Ah, yes, @comick1's old book.  If I recall, that sale was facilitated by ... you!  All things come full circle, I guess.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, everyone! 

[comick1]

On 7/2/2024 at 9:09 PM, PedigreeMan said:

Ah, yes, @comick1's old book.  If I recall, that sale was facilitated by ... you!  All things come full circle, I guess.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, everyone! 

I'm not sure I ever owned that. What made you think I owned that?  If I did and I flipped it, I must have been off my rocker. That's a way kewl cover. I've been known to sell things I deeply regretted. . .so it wouldn't be the first time. I just don't recall it, though.

[comick1]

On 7/2/2024 at 9:09 PM, PedigreeMan said:

Ah, yes, @comick1's old book.  If I recall, that sale was facilitated by ... you!  All things come full circle, I guess.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, everyone! 

By the way, welcome back, Alan!!! Geeesh, thought you dropped off the planet!!!

[october]

On 7/18/2024 at 10:30 PM, comick1 said:

I'm not sure I ever owned that. What made you think I owned that?  If I did and I flipped it, I must have been off my rocker. That's a way kewl cover. I've been known to sell things I deeply regretted. . .so it wouldn't be the first time. I just don't recall it, though.

I don't remember that either, but my memory is awful, so that doesn't mean much. 

[brainbats]

Wow. I just stumbled across this thread and skimmed the whole thing.  I was a regular at Bruce's, and was in the shop a day or two after he came back with the books.  I was blown away by the freshness, but unfortunately war books weren't my thing.  I did pick up the only 2 EC books in the collection, a Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted, and some Atlas war books with Kirby art.  One issue had a Gene Colan story which I had Gene sign at a convention.  He held up the line a few minutes to read the whole story.  

Sadly, all of those books are long gone from my collection.  But I still have these, which Bruce threw in on the deal.

[brainbats]

Btw, given that Blankis seems to have bought every war book he came across, I've wondered whether he only had the 2 EC books because he didn't like them or EC's distributor didn't have much reach into the hinterlands.  

[Morganmi]

Mind blown!!  Just saw and read this thread for the first time now also. I too was a regular at Bruce's comics from the early 90's till he sold the store. Always loved going to the Bruce's mostly to talk to Bruce about comics and music or whatever else was happening in Santa Fe at the time. I do remember those amazing war comics he had there for a little while but alas I was a poor collage student and couldn't afford anything like that back then. He did however steer me to some great high grade and cheap bronze age books that I have in my collection to this day. Will never forget him letting me hold a copy of Superman 1, and a Detective 32 I think, that he had passing through the store once. Sorry to read that he has since passed away as some of my fondest collecting memories and conversations were with him. Here's hoping to see more of those amazing missing Salida books pop up here in the future for us all too ogle and drool over.

[brainbats]

On 7/19/2024 at 7:07 PM, Morganmi said:

Mind blown!!  Just saw and read this thread for the first time now also. I too was a regular at Bruce's comics from the early 90's till he sold the store. Always loved going to the Bruce's mostly to talk to Bruce about comics and music or whatever else was happening in Santa Fe at the time. I do remember those amazing war comics he had there for a little while but alas I was a poor collage student and couldn't afford anything like that back then. He did however steer me to some great high grade and cheap bronze age books that I have in my collection to this day. Will never forget him letting me hold a copy of Superman 1, and a Detective 32 I think, that he had passing through the store once. Sorry to read that he has since passed away as some of my fondest collecting memories and conversations were with him. Here's hoping to see more of those amazing missing Salida books pop up here in the future for us all too ogle and drool over.

I remember that Superman #1, in about VF condition.  Bruce told me it had been given to him by his uncle, Whitney Ellsworth, and that he sold it for $20K, which in '92 or '93 was a lot of money for that book.  But you had to take everything Bruce said with a grain of salt.  

[Morganmi]

On 7/20/2024 at 1:48 AM, brainbats said:

I remember that Superman #1, in about VF condition.  Bruce told me it had been given to him by his uncle, Whitney Ellsworth, and that he sold it for $20K, which in '92 or '93 was a lot of money for that book.  But you had to take everything Bruce said with a grain of salt.  

Ha! I think he told me that they were not his books, and that he was just brokering the deal or something like that but like you said, with Bruce who knows.  I kinda recall that there were a bunch of nice early golden age books being packed up with the Superman and Detective at the same time but those 2 were the most important ones that were in those big, thick plexiglass cases.

[brainbats]

I'm guessing we're talking about 2 different copies.  The copy I have in mind was sold locally right after Bruce opened the store.   

[Morganmi]

On 7/21/2024 at 1:15 AM, brainbats said:

I'm guessing we're talking about 2 different copies.  The copy I have in mind was sold locally right after Bruce opened the store.   

Oh yea must have been. This was defiantly towards the end. Not long before he sold the place. These comics were not displayed in the store as far as I know. I think I just got lucky I came in when they were packing it up because they were gone the next time I came to the store. The Superman 1 was around VF condition though. I wonder is it possible that he was brokering a deal for the person he sold it to the first time with a bunch of other comics that collector had or was this another collection entirely?

[buttock]

On 7/20/2024 at 11:15 PM, brainbats said:

On 7/21/2024 at 9:21 AM, Morganmi said:

Oh yea must have been. This was defiantly towards the end. Not long before he sold the place. These comics were not displayed in the store as far as I know. I think I just got lucky I came in when they were packing it up because they were gone the next time I came to the store. The Superman 1 was around VF condition though. I wonder is it possible that he was brokering a deal for the person he sold it to the first time with a bunch of other comics that collector had or was this another collection entirely?

I'm guessing we're talking about 2 different copies.  The copy I have in mind was sold locally right after Bruce opened the store.   

 

On 7/19/2024 at 7:07 PM, Morganmi said:

Mind blown!!  Just saw and read this thread for the first time now also. I too was a regular at Bruce's comics from the early 90's till he sold the store. Always loved going to the Bruce's mostly to talk to Bruce about comics and music or whatever else was happening in Santa Fe at the time. I do remember those amazing war comics he had there for a little while but alas I was a poor collage student and couldn't afford anything like that back then. He did however steer me to some great high grade and cheap bronze age books that I have in my collection to this day. Will never forget him letting me hold a copy of Superman 1, and a Detective 32 I think, that he had passing through the store once. Sorry to read that he has since passed away as some of my fondest collecting memories and conversations were with him. Here's hoping to see more of those amazing missing Salida books pop up here in the future for us all too ogle and drool over.

Lol.  I remember that Superman 1 also.  Sold locally.  Bruce brokered the deal with another dealer and then stiffed that guy.  He would always say that he was related to Whitney Ellsworth and that he had a full run of high-grade DCs going back to the mid-30s, but it wasn't true.  

Here's one of the ECs. 

[buttock]

On 7/19/2024 at 2:14 PM, brainbats said:

Wow. I just stumbled across this thread and skimmed the whole thing.  I was a regular at Bruce's, and was in the shop a day or two after he came back with the books.  I was blown away by the freshness, but unfortunately war books weren't my thing.  I did pick up the only 2 EC books in the collection, a Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted, and some Atlas war books with Kirby art.  One issue had a Gene Colan story which I had Gene sign at a convention.  He held up the line a few minutes to read the whole story.  

Sadly, all of those books are long gone from my collection.  But I still have these, which Bruce threw in on the deal.

Thanks for posting these, that's the first address I've seen for Blankis.  Another piece of the puzzle.  

[Robot Man]

On 7/22/2024 at 10:29 AM, buttock said:

 

Lol.  I remember that Superman 1 also.  Sold locally.  Bruce brokered the deal with another dealer and then stiffed that guy.  He would always say that he was related to Whitney Ellsworth and that he had a full run of high-grade DCs going back to the mid-30s, but it wasn't true.  

Here's one of the ECs. 

Man, that is pretty! One of my favorite Frontline issues I have a similar shape copy with a double cover. Got it from the little known “Paul” collection that surfaced in LA a few years ago. Got some astounding comics and a few pulps from it. 

[buttock]

On 7/22/2024 at 11:36 AM, Robot Man said:

Man, that is pretty! One of my favorite Frontline issues I have a similar shape copy with a double cover. Got it from the little known “Paul” collection that surfaced in LA a few years ago. Got some astounding comics and a few pulps from it. 

I dug this out of a CO dealer's inventory last year.  Once in a blue moon I find one in the wild and unrecognized.   

[brainbats]

On 7/22/2024 at 11:29 AM, buttock said:

 

Lol.  I remember that Superman 1 also.  Sold locally.  Bruce brokered the deal with another dealer and then stiffed that guy.  He would always say that he was related to Whitney Ellsworth and that he had a full run of high-grade DCs going back to the mid-30s, but it wasn't true.  

Here's one of the ECs. 

Yes, a whole thread could be started on Bruce Ellsworth stories.  

That's a nice Frontline; I'm not sure if it's one of the ones I bought from Bruce.  

[PedigreeMan]

On 7/18/2024 at 10:30 PM, comick1 said:

I'm not sure I ever owned that. What made you think I owned that?  If I did and I flipped it, I must have been off my rocker. That's a way kewl cover. I've been known to sell things I deeply regretted. . .so it wouldn't be the first time. I just don't recall it, though.

  Getting old sucks.  My bad, Mick!

I just checked my records and I picked up that Fighting War Stories #4 from a certain Texas attorney.  The one and only @comick1 Salida in the old collection was the Combat Kelly #14.  Sadly, a lot of the books I picked up in later years all kind of blur together ... probably a sign that I made the right choice to sell.

[PedigreeMan]

On 7/22/2024 at 12:30 PM, buttock said:

Thanks for posting these, that's the first address I've seen for Blankis.  Another piece of the puzzle.  

Beat me to it, Dan.  I had WDCS copies with the Rural Road 1 label, but never saw one with Shavano Ave.  How awesome!